<p>India ended their campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals, which went to Jitender Kumar (54kg) Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg).<br /><br />The team was placed third in the overall standings behind hosts China and Uzbekistan.<br /><br />The performance this time is a marked improvement from 1982 championships held in Seoul where the country's boxers notched up two gold, an equal number of silver and a bronze medal.<br /><br />The last gold medal for India in the Asian Championship came in the 1994 edition in Tehran where Rajkumar Sangwan finished on top in the super heavy weight category.<br /><br />And today, it was a fly weight (51kg) boxer who broke the 15-year jinx. Suranjoy, a junior World Championship bronze medallist in 2004, beat Li Chao of China 9-8 in a thrilling encounter.<br />"It was certainly not one of my best performances because my opponent came very close to upstaging me but I am thrilled to win India's first gold medal here in 15 years," an elated Suranjoy said.<br />"I didn't keep track of whether I was leading or trailing and that was a good thing considering it was such a close bout. I attacked him hard in the third round after taking it slightly easy in the first two rounds," Suranjoy, the reigning national champion, said.<br />"I fought with my guard down for some time as this tactic can unsettle the opponent and thankfully the strategy worked. I was confident of winning a gold when I first landed here and I am glad that I have managed to do that," the 22-year-old Manipuri added.<br />However, 18-year-old youth world champion Nanao Singh (48kg) was not as lucky and went down 8-9 to Thailand's Pongprayoon Keaw.<br />"It was so heartbreaking. Nanao was so much better than his opponent. He fought so well but just didn't have the luck," said coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu.<br />"It was a see-saw battle and our boy led most of the time but the lead was narrow and Keaw managed to catch up in the end," he explained.<br />In the light weight summit clash, Jai Bhagwan lost 3-8 to Hudayberdiev Serdar of Turkmenistan to settle for the second place.<br />The Haryana-boxer was a bronze medallist in the 2005 Asian Championships in Vietnam and despite the improved colour of his medal this time, he was disappointed at missing the gold. <br /><br />"I wanted the gold. I fought hard but his tactics were way too evasive. He ran around the ring a lot and was hard to catch. But I am glad that our team has done so well," Jai said.<br />Sandhu, who was also the coach of the team both in 1982 and 1994, said the country's boxers made quite a reputation for themselves this time.<br />"It has been just fantastic. I was expecting at least four gold medals but unfortunately that didn't happen. Even then my boys have done the country proud by beating boxers from some top countries," he said.<br />India had sent an 11-member team for the event, out of which 10 made the quarterfinals. Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg) and Vijender's cousin Balwinder Beniwal (64kg) lost in close bouts in the quarterfinals.<br />While Balwinder lost on count-back, Yadav lost by a point after having been declared the winner initially. PTI PM PDS<br />PM 06131533 DELHI</p>
<p>India ended their campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals, which went to Jitender Kumar (54kg) Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg).<br /><br />The team was placed third in the overall standings behind hosts China and Uzbekistan.<br /><br />The performance this time is a marked improvement from 1982 championships held in Seoul where the country's boxers notched up two gold, an equal number of silver and a bronze medal.<br /><br />The last gold medal for India in the Asian Championship came in the 1994 edition in Tehran where Rajkumar Sangwan finished on top in the super heavy weight category.<br /><br />And today, it was a fly weight (51kg) boxer who broke the 15-year jinx. Suranjoy, a junior World Championship bronze medallist in 2004, beat Li Chao of China 9-8 in a thrilling encounter.<br />"It was certainly not one of my best performances because my opponent came very close to upstaging me but I am thrilled to win India's first gold medal here in 15 years," an elated Suranjoy said.<br />"I didn't keep track of whether I was leading or trailing and that was a good thing considering it was such a close bout. I attacked him hard in the third round after taking it slightly easy in the first two rounds," Suranjoy, the reigning national champion, said.<br />"I fought with my guard down for some time as this tactic can unsettle the opponent and thankfully the strategy worked. I was confident of winning a gold when I first landed here and I am glad that I have managed to do that," the 22-year-old Manipuri added.<br />However, 18-year-old youth world champion Nanao Singh (48kg) was not as lucky and went down 8-9 to Thailand's Pongprayoon Keaw.<br />"It was so heartbreaking. Nanao was so much better than his opponent. He fought so well but just didn't have the luck," said coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu.<br />"It was a see-saw battle and our boy led most of the time but the lead was narrow and Keaw managed to catch up in the end," he explained.<br />In the light weight summit clash, Jai Bhagwan lost 3-8 to Hudayberdiev Serdar of Turkmenistan to settle for the second place.<br />The Haryana-boxer was a bronze medallist in the 2005 Asian Championships in Vietnam and despite the improved colour of his medal this time, he was disappointed at missing the gold. <br /><br />"I wanted the gold. I fought hard but his tactics were way too evasive. He ran around the ring a lot and was hard to catch. But I am glad that our team has done so well," Jai said.<br />Sandhu, who was also the coach of the team both in 1982 and 1994, said the country's boxers made quite a reputation for themselves this time.<br />"It has been just fantastic. I was expecting at least four gold medals but unfortunately that didn't happen. Even then my boys have done the country proud by beating boxers from some top countries," he said.<br />India had sent an 11-member team for the event, out of which 10 made the quarterfinals. Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg) and Vijender's cousin Balwinder Beniwal (64kg) lost in close bouts in the quarterfinals.<br />While Balwinder lost on count-back, Yadav lost by a point after having been declared the winner initially. PTI PM PDS<br />PM 06131533 DELHI</p>